530 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  23,  18i<8. 
of  the  Jersey  breed.  The  cream  from  this  milk  is  about  22  per  cent. 
A  fair  yield,  is  it  not  ?  Mr.  Hosken  of  Hayle  divides  his  attention 
between  his  dairy  cows  (Shorthorn  crossed  with  Cornish  part  and 
half-bred  Jerseys),  his  herd  of  pure  Shorthorns,  his  Lincoln  sheep, 
and  his  poultry  and  rabbit  industry.  The  rabbits  find  their  home 
on  300  acres  of  grass,  their  ultimate  destination  being  Birmingham 
and  Sheffield.  Over  2000  head  of  poultry  are  kept.  Six  incubators 
are  used,  and  Mr.  Hosken  has  found  that  buff  Orpingtons  answer  his 
purpose  the  best  (these  fowls  are  also  known  as  Lincolnshire  buffs). 
Our  experience  of  them  is  that  they  arrive  early  at  maturity,  and  are 
good  layers,  with  healthy  constitutions. 
Another  large  farm  of  925  acres  was  visited,  the  home  of  iVIr. 
Vosper.  100  acres  for  corn,  120  roots  and  Potatoes,  the  rest  pasture 
and  forage  crops.  The  bill  for  feeding  stuffs  is  £3000  per  annum* 
and  we  presume  also  that  the  malt  made  on  the  premises  is  of  no 
small  money  value.  200  South  Devon  cows,  thirty  cart  horses,. 
300  ewes,  and  large  white  Yorkshire  pigs,  with  innumerable  poultry 
form  the  live  stock.  The  labour  bill,  too,  would  make  some  of  us 
open  our  eyes  on  Saturday  night  with  fifty  men  to  pay. 
The  most  interesting  thing  about  the  Cornish  sight-seeing  was 
the  Potato  culture,  which  we  may  term  “first  earlies.”  On  a 
cliff  facing  the  south,  near  Penzance,  digging  began  dirricg  the  last 
week  of  April,  when  the  price  was  £20  per  ton;  the  yield  is  about 
3  or  4  tons  per  acre,  but  the  price  soon  drops  a  few  pounds.  This 
year  Cornish  Potatoes  were  in  the  market  before  Jerseys.  The  highest 
rent  appears  to  be  £9  to  £6  per  acre  for  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Gulvare,  whereas  some  very  early  near  St.  Ives  makes  as  much  as 
£20 ;  but  in  one  case,  as  the  occupier  netted  £110  from  one  acre,  he 
would  not  have  great  cause  for  grumbling.  After  the  Potatoes  are 
dug,  the  land  is  planted  with  Broccoli — in  one  case  this  has  been  done 
twenty-seven  years  in  succession. 
The  fruit  and  vegetable  farm  of  Mr.  Frank  Craze,  Polgrain, 
Lelant,  is  most  interesting.  Of  112  acres,  30  acres  are  planted  with 
fruit,  60  with  Broccoli,  and  17  acres  with  early  Potatoes  ;  these  are 
followed  by  transplanted  Mangolds,  which  are  pulled  in  October,  and 
Kadishes  sown  for  pulling  in  February.  That  land  does  not  lie  idle 
long — three  crops  in  twelve  months.  The  June  Potatoes  average 
from  4  to  8  tons  per  acre.  On  the  fruit  we  should  like  to  write,  but 
refrain ;  it  might  be  trenching  on  another’s  preserves. 
The  carriage  of  new  Potatoes  from  Penzance  to  London  is  35s.  per 
ton ;  to  Liverpool  or  Manchester  38s.,  and  salesmen’s  commission  with 
other  expenses  will  bring  the  bill  up  to  about  50s.  There  is  a 
heavy  outlay  for  tillage,  as  might  be  expected.  It  is  not  in  England 
we  find  land  productive  when  only  tickled  with  the  hoe.  A  mixture 
of  farmyard  manure,  seaweed,  and  white  sand  is  applied  at  the  rate 
of  160  small  loads  per  acre,  and  to  that  is  added  1^  ton  of  nitrate 
of  soda,  or  possibly  instead  1  ton  sulphate  of  ammonia.  The  Cornish 
acre  is  a  trifle  larger  than  the  usual  4  rood  plot.  The  varieties  grown 
are  Myatt’s  Ashleaf  and  Snowdrop.  The  rows  are  only  12  inches 
apart,  and  the  seed  set  from  6  to  8  inches  asunder.  Of  course  horse- 
hoeing  is  out  of  the  question,  and  so  is  earthing  up  as  we  understand 
the  process.  As  in  the  Vale  of  Avilon,  no  frost  or  snow  visits  this 
favoured  region,  or  practically  none. 
After  the  Potatoes  are  marketed  then  comes  the  second  crop  of  the 
year — Broccoli  Veitch’s  Autumn  Giant.  A  little  hoeing  prepares  the 
land,  and  no  more  manure  is  requisite.  The  carriage  of  Broccoli  to 
London  is  2s.  lOd.  per  crate,  each  crate  weighing  1^  cwt.  The  old 
story  repeats  itself.  Man  can  plough,  and  sow  and  harvest,  but 
unless  he  is  backed  up  as  it  were  by  genial  warmth,  his  best  efforts 
but  spell  failure.  Before  we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Cornish 
farmer  is  reaping  golden  harvests  we  should  remember  his  rent,  his 
tillage  bills,  and  all  his  hand  labour,  of  which  the  Potato  crop  entails 
an  immense  amount,  and  some  of  it  very  heavy  labour.  Taxes,  added 
to  a  rental  of  £9  per  acre,  take  a  good  deal  of  gilt  off  the  gingerbread 
and  that  is  only  the  initial  expense.  The  price  of  the  commodity  had 
need  be  good,  and  we  expect  our  Cornish  friends  have  to  meet  light 
crops  as  well  as  farmers  have,  who  do  their  best  in  outlay  and  skill 
in  more  northerly  counties. 
WOEK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
A  fine  week  has  helped  much  to  hurry/up  the  work  which  was  rapidly 
getting  into  arrears.  Weeds  of  all  descriptions  have  withered  quickly 
under  the  influence  of  sun  and  drying  winds,  and  the  last  order  of  twitch 
has  been  raked  up  and  burnt  under  very  favourable  conditions.  Midseason 
Potatoes  are  ready  for  earthing ;  a  few  late  ones  planted  quite  at  the  end 
of  April  are  making  rapid  growth  and  will  be  ready  as  soon  as  we  are 
ready  for  them. 
Mangolds  have  grown  well  and  are  very  promising — in  fact,  more  so 
than  we  have  seen  for  a  long  time.  They  have  come  to  the  hoe  very 
quickly,  and  we  have  to  make  a  strong  effort  to  keep  pace  with  them. 
AYhat  with  side>hoeing  and  then  striking  and  singling,  the  Mangold 
crop  is  rather  exacting  as  to  labour  at  a  time  when  work  is  very 
plentiful.  Doubtless  this  is  the  reason  why  many  farmers  fight  a  little 
shy  of  Mangolds. 
Barleys  have  much  improved,  but  there  was  so  much  room  for 
improvement  that  even  yet  the  prospect  is  not  encouraging.  There  is 
more  promise  of  a  bulky  crop,  but  there  is  very  great  unevenness,  and 
this  is  sure  to  tell  a  tale  in  the  sample  bag. 
Wheats  look  well,  and  the  ears  will  soon  be  visible,  but  there  are- 
many  complaints  of  the  Oat  crop,  which  is  repeating  last  year’s 
tendency  to  becoming  blind  (locally  spoken  of  as  “  segging  ”). 
Turnips  have  come  up  quickly  and  well,  and  in  some  parts  are 
growing  quite  as  fast  as  the  grower  can  wish,  whilst  in  others  the  fly 
is  playing  greater  havoc  with  the  young  plant  than  the  oldest  inhabitant 
can  remember.  Serious  damage  from  the  fly  we  have  found  to  result 
from  three  causes — bad  cultivation,  poverty  of  the  soil,  or  niggardliness 
as  regards  seed.  Ely  seldom  or  never  attacks  a  healthy  plant — i.e.,  a 
plant  properly  grown  in  well  cultivated  soil  in  a  good  state  of  fertility 
but  if  there  is  a  difficulty,  owing  to  adverse  weather  conditions,  in 
attaining  a  good  Turnip  tilth,  and  if  the  farmer  knows  from  his  own 
experience  that  there  is  a  doubt  about  the  result,  then  the  best  thing  to 
do  is  to  sow  more  seed,  so  as  to  provide  for  non-germination  and  fly 
attack  as  well.  It  is  more  expensive  in  seed  as  well  as  singling,  but 
we  have  never  missed  a  Turnip  crop  yet  (except  the  diamond-back  motl 
year),  thinking  that  9d.  per  acre  for  extra  seed  is  well  spent  as  an 
insurance. 
Magnificent  Wheat  Peospect.  —  Under  this  beading  tl:  e 
“  American  Agriculturist  ”  estimates  an  area  of  43,500,000  acres,  a 
remarkable  increase  over  last  year,  a  splendid  condition  of  crop,  and  a 
brilliant  outlook.  It  goes  on  to  say,  “  Of  course  the  price  of  Wheat  for 
the  past  year  has  made  it  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  acreage  thia 
season  would  be  large,  but  the  “Agriculturist”  and  other  of  its  more 
thoughtful  contemporaries  warned  growers  of  the  danger  of  too  great  a 
rush  toward  Wheat.  A  total  Wheat  acreaee  of  43,519,000  acres  is  a 
radical  disturbance  of  the  proper  balance  of  our  annual  crop  distribution, 
and  there  is  grave  danger  of  such  a  surplus  of  Wheat  this  year  as  was 
secured  in  1891.  The  fact  that  Wheat  supplies  the  world  over  are  small, 
and  that  foreign  crops  only  show  promise  of  a  moderate  increase  over  last 
year,  may  offset  the  apparent  mistake  which  our  own  large  acreage  seems 
likely  to  prove.”  British  agriculturists  will  hope  it  may  be  so. 
OUR  LETTER  BOX. 
Poultry  (Amateur).  —  You  are  right  in  your  interpretation.  The 
method,  we  are  informed,  is  to  some  extent  practised  in  France,  but  we 
are  unaware  of  such  custom  in  England.  Perhaps  you  would  like  to 
write  to  the  Editor  of  “Poultry,”  3,  Windsor  Road,  Church  End, 
Finchley,  London,  N,  The  paper  only  costs  Id. 
Preserving  Eggs  (Jfrs.  Mason). — Mr.  De-la-Bere’s  method,  about  which 
you  inquire,  has  been  described  by  that  gentleman  as  follows  :  — The  new 
method  is  to  wrap  each  egg  the  day  it  is  laid  in  a  small  square  of  news¬ 
paper,  and  pack  these  eggs  side  by  side  in  a  box,  layer  upon  layer  until  it  is 
full.  After  the  lid  is  fastened  down  it  must  firstly  be  stored  in  a  dry  cool 
place,  and  secondly,  be  turned  upside  down  at  least  three  or  four  times  a  week. 
This  simple  process  of  turning  will  preserve  eggs  perfectly  fresh  for  12  or 
even  18  months.  The  following  were  our  comments  at  the  time : — Enveloping 
eggs  in  newspaper  is  not  by  any  means  a  new  method  of  preservation. 
We  have  before  heard  of  and  adopted  this  plan  in  preserving  eggs  for 
eating  purposes.  The  newspaper,  in  that  it  excludes  the  passage  of  air 
through  the  porous 'shell,  retards  decomposition  and  destruction  of  the 
germ.  Similarly  ice  is  prevented  from  melting  rapidly  in  hot  weather 
by  being  well  wrapped  in  newspapers.  Another  proof  of  the  non-con¬ 
duction  of  heat  by  paper  is  the  fact  that  if  a  newspaper  be  sandwiched 
between  two  blankets  on  a  cold  night  radiation  of  heat  will  be  much 
retarded,  and  the  sleeper  kept  much  warmer.  Such  methods  for  the 
preservation  of  eggs  as  greasing  w  ith  butter  or  immersing  in  a  solution 
of  lime  illustrate  the  same  principle  of  excluding  air,  but  unfortunately 
eggs  thus  preserved  are  of  no  use  for  hatching  purposes,  since  the  chicks 
in  order  to  hatch  alive  must  have  a  supply  of  oxygen,  which  is  impos¬ 
sible  if  the  pores  of  the  shell  are  choked  with  grease  or  lime.  We 
think,  however,  that  our  correspondent  attaches  undue  importance  to 
constant  turning,  for  movement  is  likely  to  damage  the  vitality  of  the 
germinal  spot,  and  believe  that  if  the  turning  of  the  eggs  were  omitted 
quite  as  good,  if  not  better,  results  would  ensue,  provided  the  eggs  were 
carefully  wrapped  in  paper  as  soon  as  possible  after  being  laid. 
